First-term Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is weighing in on his state’s burgeoning 2024 Senate primary.

Vance is endorsing business executive Bernie Moreno in the Republican primary to challenge longtime Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown next year in a race that could determine if the GOP wins back the Senate majority. News of the endorsement was shared first with Fox News Digital on Monday.

Moreno, a successful Cleveland-based business leader and luxury auto dealership giant, is making his second straight bid for the Senate. So is the other prominent GOP candidate in the race to date, state Sen. Matt Dolan, a former top county prosecutor and Ohio assistant attorney general.

"Bernie is a lifelong businessman, who has created thousands of good-paying middle-class jobs and is a strong America First conservative, who will never stop fighting to protect Ohio workers and families. Bernie is committed to securing our southern border, getting tough on China and taking the fight to the woke corporations waging war against our conservative values," Vance said in a statement.

Vance, who called Moreno a "friend," added that "It’s time to turn the tides on the establishment insiders who sell out our country to special interests and elect more political outsiders like Bernie, who will always put America First in Washington, DC. I’m looking forward to having Bernie as a colleague in the U.S. Senate."